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Thursday, April 25, 2013

Wire Macrame Earring Tutorial

When I submitted these earrings for the AJE challenge a few months ago a lot of people asked me about the the wire macrame technique so I decided to put together a tutorial which you can adapt to your own design. I had a little difficulty photographing this today as it's a two handed technique and my tripod has gone awol but you can find the basic knotting technique here if you need clarification.

Note: Different types and gauges of wire can be used for this and these will give different effects but remember that you may need to adjust the length of the wire according to the gauge used.

Step one
Secure your core wire to something that will keep it firmly in place - I use a table top vice but you could also wrap it round a rigid object - don't forget to cut extra wire if you do the latter.

Step 2
Place your knotting wire beneath the core wire and bring both ends up around the sides. Pass the wire on your left over the wire in your right and back under the core wire and up through the loop of the wire on the right.

Grip both ends of the wire with your pliers and pull to tighten keeping an even tension. Don't be tempted to do this with your hands (especially with bronze wire) - it may not hurt at first but you'll find you have very sore fingers the next day - I know I tried!

Step 3
Repeat step 2 taking care to pass the wire in the same direction as this will create the spiral pattern.

Continue repeating step one and the spiral pattern will begin to emerge...

Step 4

When the spiral is the length you want remove it from the vice and wrap one end of the wire around the core wire 3 times, cut off the excess and press against the core wire. Repeat the process with the other end of the wire wrapping it over the first wrap. Trim the excess and file any sharp edges. This will form the top of the earring.

Step 5
Trim the top end of the core wire to remove any vice marks, file the end and turn a simple loop. Gently push the spiral up to sit snugly against the loop.

Step 6
At the other end add your focal bead, trim and file the wire and turn another simple loop or warp a loop if preferred.

Step 7
Add a headpin to an accent bead and turn a simple loop to create a dangle then add this to the bottom of your earring.

Step 9
Add an earwire of your choice.

Step 10
Repeat this process for the second earring to complete the pair.

Step 11
This technique is greatly enhanced by oxidising the wire and polishing back the high points to give added depth and texture. I've done this when the earrings are complete but if your beads are not waterproof you will need to treat the wire before you make up the earrings.

And there you have your wire macrame earrings.

I hope you'll have a go at making these and perhaps we'll see some of them coming up on the AJE Earring Challenge Pinterest board.

Oh, Holy Moses! I love this! I loved it so much I went and told people they need to come see this from my blog! Abso-tively AAAAAWEsome! (warbles out word) I was waffling about learning macrame but now I want to jump right in. Your pics are very clear and, since I'm a visual learner, I think I can pick this up. Woo Hoo!